Sridevi, Boney, and their younger daughter Khushi Kapoor were in Ras Al Khaimah, another part of UAE, last week to celebrate the wedding of Boney Kapoor's actor-nephew Mohit Marwah.

Mumbai: In a shocking twist to Sridevi's sudden end, a Dubai Police forensic report on Monday stated that the 54-year-old Bollywood actor died due to "accidental drowning" in the bathtub of her hotel room before her surprise dinner date with husband and film producer Boney Kapoor. As soon as the news came in, theories such as how could an adult drown in a bathtub began to spring up. However, bathtub deaths are a well-documented medical fact in other countries such as the US and Japan.

According to The Times of India, 19,000 sudden bath-related deaths occur in Japan every year, as per a study published in the Journal of General and Family Medicine in March 2017. Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency had in a report in 2016 stated that drowning in bathtubs increased 70 percent over the past 10 years. Shockingly, nine out of 10 victims were over 65 years of age. Notably, Japanese bathtubs are deeper.

Federal mortality data in the US in 2006 stated that at least one citizen dies in a bathtub, hot tub or spa a day, with most of them high on drugs or alcohol. The data released by the Center for Diseases Control in Atlanta, US, in 2015 suggest how bathrooms could be fatal. More than two lakh people, aged over 15, are brought to hospital emergency rooms annually due to bathroom injuries, said the data. The report added that most accidents take place while taking bath or shower, and victims are usually women, probably due to their lower-body strength and bone mass.

A day after media reported that Sridevi had died following a cardiac arrest on Saturday night, a Dubai Police forensic report on Monday stated that the 54-year-old had passed away due to accidental drowning. Another twist came with the mention in the forensic report of traces of alcohol in her blood -- with some media reports claiming that it was found to have been at "elevated levels".

Sharing the image of the forensic report, Gulf News stated that Sridevi, who had traces of alcohol in her blood, lost balance and fell into the bathtub and drowned.

However, Sridevi's dance master of 22 films, Saroj Khan, questioned the cause of the 54-year-old star's death. Sridevi can never lose consciousness and was a very strong woman, asserted the choreographer. Meanwhile, author Taslima Nasreen took to micro-blogging platform Twitter and said: "Healthy adults don’t drown in bathtubs accidentally".

According to a post on the official Dubai Media Office Twitter handle, the Dubai Police has transferred the case to the Dubai Public Prosecution, which will carry out regular legal procedures that are followed in such cases. "The investigation is still going on to determine the circumstances surrounding the accident as the forensic report only says that she drowned," an official told Gulf News.

The police are trying to piece together the sequence of events and ascertain what exactly happened.

A chief prosecutor told Gulf News: "In such accidental death incidents, the results of the post-mortem and forensic examination reports are referred to the Public Prosecution as part of ordinary law enforcement procedures. The papers are revised by the prosecutors of the jurisdiction where the incident happened. An official order to hand over the body of the deceased to the family or relatives is issued shortly after that."

Earlier reports said that the actor was getting ready for a dinner date with her husband. Boney flew to Dubai from Mumbai and went to her room at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel at around 5.30 p.m on Saturday to "surprise" her with the dinner, a source close to the family told the Khaleej Times. He woke her up and the couple chatted for about 15 minutes before he invited her for dinner.

The "Mom" star then went to the washroom. After 15 minutes had passed and Sridevi did not come out, Boney knocked on the door to check on her. When he got no response, he forced open the door to find the actor lying motionless in the bathtub full of water, the source said. "He tried to revive her and when he could not, he called a friend of his. After that, he informed the police at 9 pm," he added.

The police and paramedics rushed to the site, but she was pronounced dead. Her body was taken to the General Department of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy.

Sridevi, Boney, and their younger daughter Khushi Kapoor were in Ras Al Khaimah, another part of UAE, last week to celebrate the wedding of Boney Kapoor's actor-nephew Mohit Marwah. Boney had returned to Mumbai after the wedding but decided to return to Dubai to "surprise" his wife.

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